"If all of mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
-John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1869

On Thursday, August 21st, 2008 Ryan McDonald was shot in the school cafeteria by Jamar Siler. Ryan was white Jamar was not. What I want to know is why the ACLU and none of the major news services are jumping on this for being a hate crime. Everyone who remembers the Jena 6 trials and the ACLU involvement there, should be wondering the same thing.

If hanging nooses in a tree, the incident that started off the race-based fights in Louisiana, is a hate crime, but 6 students of one race ganging up on another student of a different race is not, then surely a student of one race shooting a student of another race has to be.

What dismays me is that if the roles had been reversed, there would be outrage over this. While I understand that there are degrees of difference, please note that I do not condone any of the actions described above, but merely point them out as examples of the hypocrisy espoused by both sides when it comes to race-based legal issues.

I think that these unfortunate incidents highlight a need for a review of hate crime legislation. there needs to be concrete definitions of what is and what is not a hate crime. The double standards on both sides need to be eliminated so that instead of dividing people on these issues, they will bring us together.

Stop prosecuting under hate crime law, those crimes that are not actually hate crimes.